Chocolate Covered Poached Pear

One of my favorite summer treats is chocolate covered strawberries.  Unfortunately, currently I am in the middle of winter so I decided to try dipping a more seasonally appropriate fruit in chocolate.  I first poached the pear so that it would be soft.  Also, I used milk chocolate since that is what I had on hand, but would use dark chocolate in the future.  I served the chocolate dipped pear on a blackberry/rhubarb compote.

INGREDIENTS

Pear
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 bottle white wine
4 cups water
1 cinnamon quill
1 star anise
4 small ripe pears
100 grams dark chocolate, chopped

Compote

2 sticks  rhubarb, cut into 1-2 cm pieces
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1/8 cup water
75 grams fresh or thawed frozen blackberries
1/2 tablespoon corn starch mixed with 1/2 teaspoon water


METHOD


For Pears
1. Combine sugar, wine, water, cinnamon, and star anise in a sauce pan over low heat.  Stir to dissolve sugar.  Add pears and cook until pears are tender (about 45 minutes.)  Chill pears in refrigerator.
2. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.  Remove pears from refrigerator and dry with a paper towel.  Dip bottom half of pear in chocolate.  A pastry brush can be used to spread the chocolate up the side of the pear.  Place chocolate dipped pear on wax paper and allow to set.

For Compote
1.  Place rhubarb in a saucepan with caster sugar and 1/8 cup water. Cover and place over medium heat and cook for 5-10 minutes until softened. Add blackberries and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes until softened. Add the corn starch mixture and stir for 3-4 minutes until thickened. Set aside in a bowl to cool to room temperature for at least 5 minutes.